The second whisky in Douglas Laing’s Old Particular Twitter Tasting. Another blind sample so we could assess the whisky on its merits instead of on name and fame. A good call for such a tasting, if you ask me!

During this tasting Cara Laing sat in on Douglas Laing’s Twitter account and tried to keep up with about 20 people going mad on their keyboard. I don’t think anyone kept up with all the tweets flying around but at least we all tried. She was present to disclose all samples to us after we had tasted them. Also, she was there to give some more information on the newly formed version of Douglas Laing and its whiskies.

Fred and Cara Laing

Sniff:
A very meaty whisky from the start, with steak and beef jerky on the nose. Also some almond milk and granny smith apples. Pear peel, menthol and leather. I got some carambola or as it is known across the world: star fruit. It gets a bit sweeter after a while and after ten minutes a waxiness shows up.

Sip:
Sweet and meaty again, with a certain kind of beef marinade I can’t figure out. Sweet and savoury at least, with curry sauce. It’s quite waxy and sweet with red apples. Not too sharp by the way.

Swallow:
The finish doesn’t do much for me, but there’s some strawberry, that marinade is back too. Sweet with a star fruit freshness. Slightly bitter and not too long.

This turned out to be Caperdonich, Glen Grant’s demolished brother. It had been quite a while since I tasted one and I barely got around to tasting all the +/- 19 year olds that were released over the last couple of years. This is a nice one. Especially the nose and palate are interesting. The 48.4% abv works for me as well. A bit higher than usual but not cask strength.

All in all, a lovely whisky with lots of things to explore, but also one you could just sit around and drink. I don’t feel all whiskies are good for that, but this one ticks all the boxes.

Caperondich 18, 48.4%, Douglas Laing’s Old Particular